Though the ribbons may be six feet long, they are not so wide as
the palm of your hand.
Another sea plant, which grows in tufts in rather deep water, is called
Irish Moss; it is green, brown or purple in colour. I do not know why it
should be called Irish Moss, for it is not a moss, and it grows all
round the English, as well as the Irish, sea-coast. But sea-weeds have
strange names; indeed, many of them have no everyday names at all. Irish
Moss is used for food, after being boiled to a jelly. It can also be
made into a gum or glue, and has often been so used.
Now, if you were to walk still farther on the bed of the sea, into
deeper water, you would find the prettiest of all the sea plants. These
are the pink and red sea-weeds. You also find them on the beach, but
only after they have been torn from their home in the deep water. They
grow on the rocks, in pretty coloured tufts.
If you dive still farther, into the dark depths of the sea, you find
beds of ooze and slime, and rocks and weird fishes, but no plants. Why
is this? Like the land-plants, these sea-plants must have _light_.
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